Editor’s note: Nuggets reporter Marc J. Spears and photographer John Leyba help readers get to know
one of the team’s players on a deeper level every other Sunday. Leyba’s photographs complement a conversation with Spears about life, work and play.

Marcus Camby has been with the Nuggets since June 2002 and at 32 is the team’s elderstatesman. He getting ready to sell his house in New York and move to his spread in Houston during the offseason. An avid fisherman and car collector, Camby’s place in Houston has a lake and a big garage for his cars, which he’s scaled back from 15 to ” 8 or 9.” With a 4-year-old daughter, he is balancing life on the court with life in the play room.

Spears: I hear you love to fish. How did that start?

Camby: I used to fish when I was a little kid. It’s something I like doing a lot. Just recently we got a lake with our house in Houston. It’s a 10-acre lake and it came with the property that we bought. We got the lake and got it (filled) with fish. Got some bass, catfish and some trout in there. That’s where I spend most of my free time out there fishing on the lake.”

Spears: How good of a fisherman are you?

Camby: I’m pretty good. I catch them then release them. I don’t catch them and cook them up yet. I catch them and throwing them back. I pretty decent at it.”

Spears: Much of your charity work involved education for the youth. How do you want to be involved in that after you retire?

Camby: “A full involvement. I definitely expect to be a principal one day. It’s all about figuring where I’m going to be a principal. Possibly in the South, home in Connecticut or maybe here in Denver.”

Spears: How did you get an offseason home in Houston being that you’re from Hartford, Conn.?

Camby: “My wife is from there. & It went hand in hand because basically that’s where all the NBA players are at (in the offseason). All of them live down in Houston. We have probably the best (pickup games) down there during the summertime.”

Spears: Is it true that as a kid your family was poor that you never had clothes that fit well?

Camby: “Yeah. It was real tough for us. For me it was definitely tougher. When I had my growth spurt from my freshman year to my senior year I was growing, growing, growing out of clothes. It was real tough to find clothes for a 6-10, 6-11 guy.”

Spears: Did you get teased much?

Camby: “I got teased all the time till this day. Guys used to tell that my sleeve in my jacket would catch me just below my elbow. I still hear those jokes from my boys.”

Spears: Back then were the jokes harder to deal with?

Camby: “Yeah. It was definitely tougher to deal with then now. Now I have the luxury of not being an off-the-rack guy. I basically get my clothes custom fit. They can make them as baggy and comfortable as I want right now. It’s a blessing.”

Spears:What was it like growing up in Hartford?

Camby:“It was tough. It was like growing up in your typical inner city. You got drugs and gangs all around you. Basketball was pretty much my safe haven being on the court. Everyone knew I was all about sports and what I wanted to get at in life. No one really messed with me or asked me to get involved in things like that. My mom was definitely instrumental in me and my sisters’life. She always made sure we did our homework when we got home.”

Spears: How does your daughter take it when you go on the road?

Camby: “It’s tough. I have to tell her a day or two in advance. I tell her I’m going on a long road trip. ‘Daddy is going to be out of town.’ And the first thing she says is, ‘So I can sleep in your bed with mommy now?'”

Spears: So she doesn’t get down and out when you’re gone?

Camby: “When I call and talk to her on the phone she gets a little sad sometimes. She gets to see me on TV and not in person. But for the most part she’s all right because she gets to sleep with mom.”

Spears: How did your fascination with cars develop?

Camby: “We never really had a car when I was a kid. I was always into cars, but we never really could afford them. I knew when ever I was going to get my hands on some money that would be one of my passions.”

Spears: How many do you have?

Camby: “I was at 15. My financial guy told me I had to cut back on some of my cars. I’m back at 8 or 9 now.”

Spears: If you heard one of your cars got stolen, which one would you be the most worried about?

Camby: “Right now it would probably be my ’64 Lincoln. That’s something I bought a couple years ago and put a lot of money into it rebuilding it and restoring it. That’s pretty much my baby right now.”

Spears: What’s the latest car you’ve picked up?

Camby: “Right now I got a new Escalade ESD the long edition and I got a Mercedes S5-50.”

Spears: What is your relationship like with your teammates?

Camby: “All my teammates know they can come to me about any different problem. Just recently Jamal Sampson’s car got broken into at the airport. He didn’t have another car so I gave him one of my cars to use. His car was going to be out for a month. I took care of ‘Kouba (Yakouba Diawara) this year. I got him some custom suits. Got him an iPod. A new PS3. I take everybody. Everybody knows they can keep up with me with anything. It’s all about being a captain and being me.”

Spears: Why did you do that for Diawara?

Camby: “He’s a rookie. He doesn’t have too much. He doesn’t hang out too much. He’s a real quiet guy. He doesn’t really have a lot of things. He feels fortunate just to be in the NBA right now. I try to help him out as much as possible. The per diem we get on the road I give to him. He’s doing all right.”

Spears: Was your dad around when you were growing up?

Camby: “My dad was never around. My mom was like my mom and dad at the same time.”

Spears: Does your dad not being around affect you as a parent?

Camby: “It affects it a lot. I’m more focused on the task at hand of being a parent. That’s a tough job. Being a parent is a real tough job. Balancing basketball and being a parent is extra tough. I take a lot of pride in being a parent. When people ask what my occupation is I say parent slash basketball player.”

Spears: What’s it like being the oldest dude on the Nuggets?

Camby: “It’s tough. I’m the oldest dude, but sometimes I don’t feel like it. When I look around at the guys that we have, guys like J.R. (Smith), Melo (Carmelo Anthony) and ‘Kouba, guys that are like 21 and 22 years old, I always tell them I wish I could go back 10 years to be their age. It’s tough. It’s a different feeling right now. Being in New York I was the youngest guy being around Patrick (Ewing), L.J. (Larry Johnson), Spree (Latrell Sprewell) and all those guys. Those guys were the elderstatesman. The role definitely reversed.”

The Camby file

* 6-feet-11, 235 pounds.

* Born: March 22, 1974.

* Chinese characters on right arm stand for Strive to be your best (top) and Love
your family.

Florida’s state social services agency investigated Nikolas Cruz’s home life more than a year before police say he killed 17 people at his former high school, closing the inquiry after determining that his “final level of risk is low,” despite learning that the teenager had behavioral struggles and was planning to buy a gun, according to an investigative report.